


Gerudo / Rito

by Pins_and_Patches



Series: Born and Raised [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: 120 years after it to be exact, Gen, Gerudo Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Nonbinary Link (Legend of Zelda), Nonverbal Link (Legend of Zelda), Post-Breath of the Wild, Rito Link (Legend of Zelda), SO, Violence, decided there's no zelink, just right now i'm gonna add some warnings that will be needed further on, no one dies yet though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24223141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pins_and_Patches/pseuds/Pins_and_Patches
Summary: (This series is inspired by a post by amaranthinepoetry on Tumblr)Zelda was raised as a Gerudo, the daughter of the chief. It's all she's ever known: the desert, safety from sandstorms and monsters within the walls of Gerudo Town, the town only for vai- with the exception of a voe named Ganondorf, a bit older than herself- and only populated by Gerudo. She's never even considered the idea that she herself is not a Gerudo.All of this shatters like glass when she meets Link- a Hylian, not vai or voe, raised as a Rito, who Zelda rescues from a sandstorm.Because this young Hylian has something which Zelda recognizes on their back. A sword in a violet sheath with the Triforce on it, specifically. The legendary Master Sword.Why does she recognize it?
Relationships: Ganondorf & Link (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Born and Raised [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748392
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

Zelda could feel the sun beating down on the roots of her sun-bleached blonde hair. She had grown quite used to the dizzying heat and dangerous cold of Gerudo Desert, but it didn't mean that on worse days it didn't still get to her.

She decided to escape inside somewhere, though she didn't feel like returning home to her mother yet. Instead, she came into the jewellery shop and just watched Natali, the blacksmith, work.

"Ah, Zelda," Natali said suddenly. "I didn't notice you. Would you like something made?"

"Sav'aaq," Zelda greeted. "I'm not here to buy anything. I only came in to escape the heat some."

"I see," Natali replied. "The sun really does a number on you, doesn't it?"

"I guess so. I've been told when I was much younger, my skin was so pale I didn't even look like a Gerudo," Zelda laughed.

"Your hair was different, too," Natali added. "I was just a child myself, so I don't remember that well, but I do recall that your hair used to be a much darker blonde. It just seems to keep getting lighter."

"Strange, isn't it?" Zelda mused. "Most Gerudo have red hair, yet mine is nowhere near that color. How odd that the descendant of a bloodline such as mine would look so unlike a Gerudo. It feels wrong, almost."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. It may not be common, but it's not impossible for a Gerudo to look like yourself. Just take Ganondorf. It's an incredibly rare phenomenon, but he is still a Gerudo, even if he is a voe."

"I guess so."

Zelda looked around at the shop, then out the door at the surrounding town.

"Is this place the same as it was 120 years ago?" She asked.

"120 years ago?" Natali echoed. "Oh, you mean after the Calamity?"

"Yes. Gerudo Town was one of the settlements which survived it. I'm sure the town has changed, but is this shop the same?"

"Probably not," Natali answered after a brief pause. "As time passes, everything changes. If this shop were the same, it would be small, old and completely decrepit. And speaking of time passing," Zelda followed Natali's gaze outside, "It's getting dark. Perhaps you should return home. I need to close up for the night soon, after all."

"Alright, I guess I'll be heading out now."

"Alright then. Sav'orq, Zelda."

Zelda only waved back.

In all honesty, she wasn't planning to return home. Not yet, at least.

Her concern that she did not belong had barely been eased by Natali's reassurance, because it was not out of worry that she was not a Gerudo. She _did_ believe fully that she was. It didn't make sense that she wouldn't be. After all, she was the daughter of the Gerudo chief and a descendant of the previous ones.

But she still didn't feel like she belonged. It was a feeling which plagued her every day, for while she'd never had a reason to feel as though she did belong, she had plenty of reasons to feel as though she did not.

From the strange dreams she had which almost felt like memories, to the way that when she was young, all of the other children were too intimidated to talk to her, to the pitiful looks from some and the disapproving glares and whispers from a few older vai, to the fact that she didn't look like a normal Gerudo, not once had Zelda fit in with the others, and she wondered if maybe they saw her the way she saw herself.

She twirled her finger around her pale blonde hair.

_Not normal._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While taking her sand seal Navi out for some time alone, Zelda finds someone caught in a sandstorm and outnumbered by monsters.

Zelda still didn't feel like going home. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it never felt like long enough to clear her head, so instead of returning home, she just rode around aimlessly on the desert sand with Navi.

Navi was her sand seal. Similarly to how Zelda was a descendant of the Gerudo chief Riju herself, Navi was a descendant of Riju's own sand seal, Patricia, her namesake being the fairy which accompanied the Hero of Time over 50,000 years ago. She'd had Navi for as long as she could remember...

...Though that was only eleven years.

Navi came to a sudden halt and barked loudly. Zelda tried to stop herself from running into Navi and falling by digging her foot into the sand, but all this accomplished was getting her foot stuck and she fell off anyways.

A jolt of pain ran through her knee. She hissed.

"Fucking Hell," She mumbled under her breath, wishing she hadn't tried to stop her momentum.

Then she heard what had gotten Navi's attention. There was a sandstorm nearby. That wasn't unusual, but it sounded like someone was in there, fighting a monster- a Lizalfos, by the sound of it.

No, not one...

This was one person fighting an entire slaughter of Lizalfos. Five of them at least, and just one was more than enough to give most people trouble.

The sand cleared for a moment and Zelda could see a Hylian with shoulder-length blond hair, wearing Rito clothing.

They were trying to take on five Lizalfos alone, and clearly it wasn't going well. They were badly cut and seemed to have sand in a few of their wounds.

"I should try and help them," Zelda said to herself as she returned to trying to remove her foot from the sand.

With a sudden bang that would've made her jump if she were able to do so, something had caught fire. Zelda panicked for a second, thinking that the Hylian was burning, but that was clearly a shot from a fire arrow, which these Lizalfos did not use.

Then they rose into the air using a Paraglider and the updraft created by whatever they'd set fire to. She'd seen those before- she knew from the Rito who came to visit that they had once been used for Hylians who came to Rito Village, but now they were much more rare.

The fire was smothered by the sand before they could get very high, and they began to lose height before being knocked out of the air by a shock arrow. They screamed in pain as they fell.

Zelda gasped, then turned back to where her foot was stuck, tugging at her leg to try and free herself.

"Come on, come on, come on!" She repeated. "I have to save them! Come on!"

With a final pull, her foot came free and she scrambled into the sandstorm, ignoring that she had lost her high heel to the desert sand

The sand was blocking her vision and getting into her lungs with every breath she took. Coughing and struggling to see, she tried to find the Hylian.

Finally she saw them, laying on the ground, barely breathing. There was sand in the deep cuts that littered their body and a shock arrow stuck in their side.

Carefully, she lifted them up, avoiding touching the arrow whatsoever, and brought them to where Navi sat.

Zelda didn't even have to make Navi start moving.

Zelda was unsure if this Hylian was a vai or a voe, but what she did know was that there was no time to waste trying to coax the guards into letting them in if they didn't immediately agree to, so instead she brought them to the inn at the nearby Kara Kara Bazaar.

Mala, the owner of the inn, helped Zelda clean and bandage their wounds, including removing the shock arrow from their side, and brought them to a bed. Zelda sat, watching over them and waiting for them to wake up.

Slowly they began to regain consciousness, but didn't fully wake up. They seemed to become much more tense once they were getting close to being awake, gripping tightly onto the pillow their head was rested on and hyperventilating.

Zelda reached out and put her hand on their shoulder. They immediately softened.

"You're going to be just fine," She said gently.

The Hylian's blue eyes slowly opened.


	3. Chapter 3

Zelda sighed in relief. "Thank Hylia... I was worried you were going to die. What were you doing out here, anyways?"

The Hylian hesitated, slowly lifting up their hands and signing, **Where am I?**

"This is the Kara Kara Bazaar. We're not too far from Gerudo Town, but I took you here because I wasn't sure they'd let you in."

They blinked. **Repeat that?**

"The Kara Kara Bazaar," Zelda repeated. "I don't know if you were trying to get into Gerudo Town, which is a bit southwest from here, but if you are, they only let vai in..." She examined them. "I don't know if you're a vai or not, so I'm not sure they'd let you in."

They looked at Zelda almost suspiciously. **Who are you?**

"I'm Zelda of the Gerudo. Daughter of the chief and heir to the throne. Who are you?"

 **Link.** After a moment, they added, **Just a Rito. Nothing important.**

"You're not a Rito," Zelda observed.

**I was raised as a Rito.**

"Are you a vai or a voe?" She asked.

Link just blinked in confusion.

"Woman or man, in your language."

**I'm not either.**

"I see." Zelda had never heard of someone being neither vai nor voe, though she suspected it was due to living in a town where everyone except one person was a vai and opted not to be rude by asking questions.

Speaking of questions, she had noticed a sword on Link's back when she rescued them, which Mala had removed. It was a light, almost bluish, silver color with a purple handle, and Zelda swore it looked exactly like the legendary sword that seals the darkness- the Master Sword.

Yet... there was a bit of familiarity to it.

She wanted to ask what it was and where they'd gotten it, but at the last second she changed her question to, "What are you doing here?"

**I was exploring and got lost.**

"You're from Rito Village up north, correct?"

Link nodded.

"Well, you should be able to head back that way before too long, but you have to stay here for a while until you're fully healed, okay?"

Link looked resentful at the idea of having to stay at the Bazaar, but reluctantly agreed.

"Good. Now, I have to get back to Gerudo Town before it becomes too noticed that I'm gone. Shall I let the innkeeper Mala know you're awake?"

Link nodded.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around then. Sav'orq."

And with that, she started to turn around to leave, but Link stopped her by snapping their fingers repeatedly until they got her attention.

"What's up?"

**Thank you for saving me.**

Unfortunately, Zelda had been a bit too late for her disappearance to not be noticed.

This meant that instead of slipping in through the northwest gate with only a kind but firm warning from Vi, the guard of that entrance, she had to be sneakier.

Stealth, however, did not come naturally to Zelda, so it was not a surprise- but still bothersome- when she was caught halfway through climbing up the wall by one of the guards of the front gate.

"Just _where_ do you think you're going, young vai?" A guard she didn't recognize shouted at her, pointing her spear upward at Zelda's place on the wall.

Zelda hadn't recognized the soldier because tonight, there were four guards instead of two- each entrance had its security doubled. It was because she had suddenly disappeared, and the third and fourth guards made that _very_ clear as they escorted Zelda to the palace.

"So you've found her," The Gerudo chief said, diverting Zelda's attention from the soldiers pushing her along to the throne where Lady Miria sat- a tall, muscular Gerudo vai with dark skin, long red hair, and a scar across her face.

"Sav'saaba, _Mom_ ," Zelda said rather scornfully.

"Sav'aaq, dear," Miria responded, ignoring her daughter's tone.

"We found her climbing the wall to get back into town," A soldier said. "We're still not sure where she went."

"You could've just _asked_ me," Zelda shot back. "I didn't even go that far."

"Well, where did you go?" Miria asked.

"If you really must know, I was only out with Navi for a bit."

"And did anything... _happen_ while you were out there? Navi seemed quite concerned."

The blood drained from Zelda's face as the thought crossed her mind that her mother knew everything, but she quickly regained her composure. "No, we only got separated, why?"

Miria eyed her suspiciously. "...Alright. It's far too late for you to be up much longer, though."

"Alright then, I suppose I'll go to bed," Zelda said quickly before she gave anything away. "Sav'orr, Mom."

"Sav'orr, dear."

And with that quick exchange, Zelda hurried off to her room, nearly stumbling and falling down the stairs due to her missing heel.


End file.
